Tag Archives: gumby

Tag Archives: gumby

San Luis Obispo – October 12, 2011, we celebrate Gumby creator Art Clokey’s 90th birthday, and Google is honoring this stop motion pioneer with a doodle. Google’s home page will feature a unique interactive stop motion clay doodle created by the Clokey Productions Premavision studios. Coinciding with the birthday fanfare is the premiere of the new Gumbyworld.com website—Gumby’s new home!

“The Google Doodle is the perfect tribute to my fathers work,” says Joe Clokey, Art Clokey’s son and creator of Gumby’s new website. “Art’s life and film career were ahead of their time. My dad would have been thrilled to be connected with Google in this way.”

A true visionary and pioneer, Art Clokey touched millions around the world with his creations. Art’s clay animation short Gumbasia expressed an exciting kinesthetic brand of film making that has influenced many of our current leading directors. The new Gumbyworld.com website is rich with new, classic and rare film clips, pictures, biographical information about Art Clokey’s formative years along with an in-depth look at his five decade long run of his cutting-edge film making.

From the Adventures of Gumby and Davey and Goliath to surrealistic art films, Art Clokey had a fascinating and influential career. The new website Gumbyworld.com is the most comprehensive look ever at the iconic green clay boy and all of the other characters in Art’s limitless universe of imagination and artistic expression. Included are clips of Art Clokey talking about the creative process and a look into some of his lesser known pilots. Gumby and Art Clokey, two American originals.

Renowned animator Anthony Scott created the doodle animation. Scott is known for his animation direction and supervision on Coraline, Corpse Bride and The Nightmare Before Christmas. Scott got his start in animation working on the 1980’s Gumby series, under Art Clokey himself. He was also the lead animator under the direction of Art’s son Joe Clokey on the Davey and Goliath Snowboard Christmas movie, which was released in 2004. Gumby lead puppet maker Nicole La Pointe-McKay modeled the various characters for the Google animation.

About Premavision

Clokey Productions and Premavison studios, founded by Art Clokey in 1956, produce stop motion animation TV series, films and commercials. They are best known for creating the iconic characters Gumby, Pokey and friends and Davey and Goliath. Located in central California, they draw the most talented animators, puppet makers and set designers in the industry.

For more information about Gumby, Premavision and existing licensing opportunities visit www.gumby.com

Biography of Art Clokey, Gumby Creator

In honor Art Clokey’s many creative accomplishments and impact on the film industry, we are proud to introduce Gumby Dharma. This Emmy Award winning documentary captures the fascinating life of Art Clokey and his famous creations Gumby and Pokey and Davey and Goliath. From the mud (called gumbo) on his grandparents’ farm in the Midwest to his many adventures with his adopted father out west, you’ll see the myriad of influences on Art’s life and how they translated into iconic characters, which the world has embraced.

Approved Uses for the Gumby Costume

With Halloween just around the corner, we’re pulling out our Gumby and Pokey costumes. The new Gumby costume has been incredibly popular—and not just for Halloween. Gumby costumes are popping up everywhere. We’ve heard about fans who keep the costumes in the trunks of their cars for easy access when they happen to be in situation that invites a green laugh or two. Need a character for your next video? Check. Need to entertain guests at a birthday party? Check. Need to dress up for a parade? Check. Gumby’s ready to go.

Gumby’s no stranger to the sports arena. One of the most common uses for the Gumby costume is to cheer teams on at nationally televised basketball, baseball and football games.

We’ve seen Gumby a number of times cheering from the stands on ESPN coverage of college basketball games, even from the front row. The Milwaukee Bucks have an “official Gumby fan” who made his own outfit. The Bucks star player sports a Gumby haircut. There is another player, on the Green Bay Packers, whose nickname is Gumby. Gumby and sports—it makes sense. Gumby is known for his flexibility and tenacity to succeed. He stretches for excellence.

We at Gumby Central love all of these. Art Clokey, Gumby creator, would have been honored. A true pioneer in stop motion animation who always pushed the envelope of the imagination and had a great sense of humor… that’s Art Clokey. The creativity that fans show is true to Gumby’s positive, enthusiastic spirit.

We’ll be sharing some of the fun ideas we come across on GumbyCentral, Gumby’s official social media sites. So you’ll want to become a fan on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and subscribe to our YouTube channel. Send us your favorite Gumby-inspired costume shots, and we may feature one in the Gumby Fans Hall of Fame or in a future blog post. Email us here.

This month we are celebrating the color GREEN. Leprechauns and shamrocks, spring plants stretching towards the sun, a fresh lawn… Can you smell the green? Gumby in all his greenness was there in 1956 before most people had color TV’s. In fact, The Gumby Show first appeared on TV on March 16, in 1957—the day before St. Patrick’s Day. The green trend was on… the Jolly Green Giant, the Incredible Hulk, Kermit the Frog and Shrek followed.

According to creator Art Clokey, green represents chlorophyll, which converts light into energy, allowing things to grow and move. The color green breathed life into Gumby. Gumby was the Clokeys’ gift of love to all children. Art would say that love is light, and chlorophyll facilitates the transformation from light to life… Light – Energy – Love are the ingredients of Gumby.

Art felt that it was important to speak children of all ethnicities. He wanted his little clay boy to be accessible to children around the world, and he chose green because it is a culturally neutral color. In the fascinating documentary, Gumby Dharma, which chronicles Art’s life and his creative endeavors, Art mentions that Gumby couldn’t be red, white, yellow, brown, or black as those colors had specific connotations. Blue was the color of Krishna, so that wouldn’t work. The color green, as he saw it, was universal and available.

In later years Gumby’s greenness also related to various story lines in which Gumby fought factory chicken farms and pesticide use and promoted organic farming. “Green” took on a whole new meaning.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you all!

To celebrate GREEN, The Gumby Store at www.gumbyworld.com is offering 25%-30% off green t-shirts through the month of March, 2012. Get some green and save some green! Check it out.